In sacco evaluation of total mixed rations

Ten nutritionally balanced total mixed rations (TMRs) were formulated by blending roughage and concentrate in 50: 50 ratio on DM basis. Concentrate in the different TMRs comprised of wheat grains from 25–42 parts, barley grains 10–12 parts, maize grains 10–12 parts, mustard cake 17–40 parts, groundnut cake 10 parts, deoiled rice bran 12–27 parts, wheat bran 10 parts, mineral mixture 1.5 parts and common salt 1.5 parts, so as to provide 22 percent CP and 74 percent TDN. In concentrates 5–10, 1% urea was added to partly replace oilcakes. The cost of various concentrates ranged between Rs. 501 to Rs. 554 per quintal and that of TMRs between Rs. 348 to Rs. 374.50 per quintal on DM basis. The roughage component comprised of equal parts of wheat straw and green sorghum fodder (DM basis). CP content of different TMRs varied from 12.2 to 12.7%, EE 1.9 to 2.6%, NDF 52.4 to 58.8%, ADF 31.7 to 36.3%, total ash 8.2 to 9.0% and acid insoluble ash between 3.2 to 3.9%. In sacco effective degradability at 0.05 outflow rate was in the range of 43.2 to 48.3% for DM, from 42.5 to 48.0% for OM and 52.0 to 61.0% for CP. Rumen degradable nitrogen (RDN) ranged between 1.01 to 1.21%, undegradable nitrogen (UDN) between 0.77 to 0.97% and acid detergent insoluble nitrogen(ADIN) between 0.34 to 0.59%. The results indicated that though the cost of TMR reduced from Rs. 348 to Rs. 374.5 per quintal due to incorporation of locally available cheap ingredients, all these TMRs were found to contain optimum RDN, UDN, DM and OM degradation values.